Are Copper Bangles Good for You? Just Eat Better
June 19, 2001 02:39 AM ET
By Zach Howard
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Aztecs, Egyptians and Romans all used copper,
one of the Earth's most common metals, for thousands of years as a folk remedy
in bangles, bandages, cosmetics and even drinks to ward off a host of ailments.
Putting on all those bracelets and rings may be one way to get a "copper
fix" but doctors are still reluctant to sanction copper-based folk remedies
since excessive amounts can be toxic and most people get plenty of copper from
their daily diet.
Even today, athletic and health-conscious adults will spurn vitamin
supplements for jewelry to boost their intake of copper, an essential nutrient
for the functioning of the body, due to concerns about over-medicating and side
effects.
Copper, found in everyday food items such as shellfish, nuts, red wine
and chocolate, is known to help the development of bones and tissue. Research
suggests that copper deficiency can lead to problems in connective tissue and
joints in diseases such as arthritis.
In addition, no one has ever proved that copper bracelets -- worn by
countless generations around the world -- actually work. Or, if they do, how
and why they can help beat disease.
Copper industry groups point to the lack of evidence that wearing such
items next to the skin prevents copper deficiency or cures ailments, although
some say they are at worst benign.
"Anecdotally, it has been working for centuries. This kind of thing has
been going on for several millennia and has been all the rage for the last few
years," said Ken Geremia, a spokesman at Copper Development Association (CDA)
in New York.
"The fact is, no one knows if it works, or how or why," he said. "There
has been research done but studies have not yielded any scientific evidence
that it works."
REMEDIES DATE BACK TO ANCIENT HISTORY
Copper's use as a home remedy against disease dates back thousands of
years through many different civilizations.
The first Egyptian record of the metal's medicinal use can be found in
the Smith Papyrus, an ancient text written between 2600 and 2200 BC.
Writings from the Roman, Aztec and Hindu civilizations illustrate a range
of remedies, with copper used in drinks and dressings for injuries or shaped
into jewelry and magnets.
Today, advocates of copper jewelry say about 13 milligrams (mg) of copper
can be absorbed by the body in one month just by wearing a bracelet as copper
ions are released within amino acid complexes that permeate the epidermis.
Discs worn under a wristwatch or inside a golfing glove interact with a
person's sweat, drawing nutrients directly to a specific injury and bypassing
the digestive system, they say.
Steve Wherry, owner of Carrots Copper based in the U.S city of Boulder,
Colorado, began marketing discs two years ago on his Web site www.carrots.com
after golfing gave him tendinitis. He now wears a copper bracelet and a disc to
maximize his intake.
"By wearing copper, you absorb it through the transdermal process and it
goes directly into your circulatory system that way to your point of need," he
told Reuters.
Wherry said his customers tended to be athletic and health-conscious --
often women interested in remedies that were "safe, non-invasive, non-addictive
and produce no side-effects."
BENEFITS BUT RESEARCH NEEDED
Despite the continued attraction of copper jewelry, medical experts are
still not urging their patients to start wearing bracelets or even take
supplementary copper doses to boost an average intake which is below the
recommended rate.
In the United States, the recommended daily allowance for adults is 2.0
mg of copper, although average intake on a daily basis is only 1.0-1.2 mg.
However, they do recognize copper's known cardiovascular benefits and its
role as a key micronutrient within the body.
"Copper is an essential micronutrient which is required for vital
biochemical reactions within cells," said Dennis J. Thiele at the University of
Michigan Medical School.
"Without copper, cells can't produce energy, metabolize iron or detoxify
free radicals," he said.
Thiele directed a study published this month which shows that if a newly
discovered protein that escorts copper through cells is absent in mammals, it
has disastrous effects during the embryonic development of organs and cells.
Doctors say copper is also key for cardiovascular health and growing
blood vessels, as well as making the neuropeptides that control muscle
contractions and the collagen that gives skin elasticity.
But more research still needs to be done on how the metal might help
against arthritis -- a disease affecting some 43 million Americans, or about
one person in six -- though it seems likely that copper deficiency might worsen
the condition.
Carl Keen, professor of nutritional science and dietetics at the
University of California, said it was reasonable to speculate that copper
deficiency contributed to rheumatoid arthritis because of the way copper acts
with two key enzymes in human tissue.
One of the enzymes, lysyl oxidase, is a coagent with copper in helping
form connective tissue. Another, superoxide dismutase, reduces inflammation and
neutralizes destructive free radicals, which may play a role in tissue damage
in the disease.
Free radicals, or reactive atoms or groups of atoms that have unpaired
electrons, can cause massive tissue damage when they oxidize in cell membranes,
Keen said.
"Low lysyl oxidase activity might contribute to oxidative damage
occurring around joints and might lead to rheumatoid arthritis," he said,
stressing this was only a possibility.
According to the official Web site of the Arthritis Foundation
(www.arthritis.org), there is not enough evidence to support using copper
supplements or bracelets to relieve symptoms of arthritis.
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